Singleton, Waterhouse charged over racing allegations

Jessica Grewal
Senior Reporter APN Newsdesk NSW Bureau
Working from Sydney, Jessica specialises in crime/court reporting, filing for APN’s regional mastheads in Northern NSW as well as providing national content for the group.
She was previously Chief Reporter at the Fraser Coast Chronicle in Hervey Bay, Queensland where she grew up and trained.
Early in her career, she was named Queensland Young Journalist of the Year at the Clarion Awards.
More recently, she was finalist at the 2013 Kennedy Awards for Excellence in NSW Journalism in both the...

UPDATE: The colourful dispute between two of the country's biggest racing identities over the health of champion mare More Joyous ended with both owner John Singleton and trainer Gai Waterhouse being charged last night.

Singleton was found guilty of bringing racing intro disrepute while Waterhouse intends to fight her charges of failing to report the condition and treatment of the horse.

Earlier in the day, brothel king Eddie Hayson told the inquiry "everyone knew the horse had problems, except poor Singo".

The allegation was made during part two of the saga which began when Singleton sacked Waterhouse over claims her bookmaker son Tom gave pre-race tip-off's about the horse's poor health to punters.

According to the Herald, Hayson said Andrew Johns told him he "didn't like" More Joyous in the All Aged Stakes and later heard from two others that "the horse is very sick".

He said he didn't bet on the race and that "we all knew it had problems".

Johns told the inquiry he had apologised to Gai and Tom Waterhouse and said he was devastated he had "inadvertently caused the drama that's gone on".

Singleton reportedly said this morning the suggestion Tom Waterhouse had been "spruiking" the horse's poor health to his mates was an "exaggeration" and that in hindsight, he wished he "hadn't said anything".

He pleaded guilty to the charge against him and, according to Fairfax, told stewards he hoped they took into account his good record as an owner in the industry for more than 40 years.

The colourful admission was made this morning during part two of the saga which began when More Joyous owner John Singleton sacked trainer Gai Waterhouse over claims her bookmaker son Tom gave pre-race tip-off's about the horse's poor health to punters.

According to the Herald, Hayson said Andrew Johns told him he "didn't like" More Joyous in the All Aged Stakes and later heard from two others that "the horse is very sick".

He said he didn't bet on the race and that "we all knew it had problems".

Earlier, Johns told the inquiry he had apologised to Gai and Tom Waterhouse and said he was devastated he had "inadvertently caused the drama that's gone on".

Singleton reportedly said this morning the suggestion Tom Waterhouse had been "spruiking" the horse's poor health to his mates was an "exaggeration" and that in hindsight, he wished he "hadn't said anything".